Effort to Delay ELD Mandate Fails on House Floor

In conjunction with the push to pass the remaining appropriations bills, Representative Brian Babin (R-Texas) sponsored an amendment that would prohibit implementing the upcoming electronic logging device mandate that goes into effect December 18, 2017, through the next fiscal year. The amendment failed by a vote of 246-173. In the vote, 67 Republicans sided with nearly all Democrats to defeat the amendment.

The bipartisan amendment was cosponsored by Representatives Lloyd Smucker (R-Pennsylvania), Doug LaMalfa (R-California), Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), Paul Gosar (R-Arizona), and Jason Smith (R-Missouri), and had support from more than 30 organizations, including NGWA, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association.​

Opponents of the amendment cited safety concerns as the reason for their opposition, despite evidence to the contrary. NGWA will work to identify other possibilities to delay or rescind the mandate in advance of the December deadline for implementation.

The roll call vote demonstrated the challenge in finding a legislative solution to delay or rescind the ELD mandate before the December deadline. As of December 18, ELDs must be in place and in use unless a business falls within one of the exemptions.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, which represents commercial vehicle safety inspectors and highway enforcement officers, announced a period of “soft enforcement” for trucks complying with the upcoming ELD mandate. Though officers will enforce the mandate, they will not issue out-of-service citations until April 2018.

CVSA asserts it is ready to enforce the new regulation, but the delay in enforcement raises questions about preparedness.

The soft enforcement period will allow extra time to understand, comply, and adjust to the new regulation — without fear of being placed out of service.